September 9 -- 2005
Summer Backcountry Skiing Report from Over the Hill

This just over the transom from Craig B. in Crested Butte, Colorado. They did a good job of getting their September turns. Here closer to Aspen we're still waiting for the first significant dusting of fresh so we can head up to Montezuma and get the last of our TAY (turns all year), and judging from how wet this fall is, that should be happening soon. (One has to ask Craig, what's with the green boots? I'm trying to place them but memory fails.)

Hey Lou, yep it's been an easy summer to make turns around here if you know where to look. Here's a shot from the northern slopes of Purple Mountain just over Yule pass near Crested Butte. Had a beautiful Labor Day making several laps on the existing 25 turn patch. Bring on the October snows!!! Craig

September 7 -- 2005
Packs for the Backcountry, Skiing or Otherwise

On the trail to Shadow Lake, Wind River Mountains. Bollinger Peak and Wolf's Head to right. Granite Gear Nimbus Ozone pack on back!

Our recent backpack in the Wind Rivers was a terrific laboratory for lightweight equipment, much of which applies to backcountry skiing as well as hiking. Consider packs. You get your load down to reasonable heft by trimming nearly everything, then weigh your pack and find out it's the third heaviest thing you have (next to food and sleeping bag). Does it need to be that way? Not if Granite Gear (GG) can help it. Louie and I both used the GG Nimbus Ozone, a sack that only weighs 3 pounds, yet provides plenty of volume and a truly comfortable suspension system.

I've looked far and wide and have simply not found anything on the market that comes close to these Granite Gear packs. Sure, the less durable silnyl fabric requires thought about how you place your gear in the pack, and the lack of zippered pockets is a bit disconcerting at first. But what's a pack for, first and foremost? It's to mule your junk from camp to camp as easily as possible. This one does the job, and saves up to 2 pounds over many packs of comparable comfort and size. We're inspired by this gear -- excited to try some multi-day winter backcountry skiing trips with loads that resemble our day-pack weight.

September 6 -- 2005
Marmot PreCip - Silverton

Thanks goes to Blog reader Chet for correcting me about the fact that the Marmot Precip jacket blogged below does NOT use Goretex, but rather Marmot's own proprietary waterproof/breathable coating.

According to Marmot: "PreCip Dry Touch Technology, Waterproof/Breathable Marmot's proprietary PU coating technology specially engineered for unlined garments with excellent durability. A special layer next to the skin reduces condensation and the sticky clammy feel of most coatings."

We can testify that indeed the Marmot coating DOES live up to their claims. It's works super well, and the PreCip line of shells are light, affordable, and fit well. If you're looking for lighter weight gear that costs less, highly recommended. We test this stuff in harsh conditions and only recommend things we use ourselves and like. While the PreCip appears at first glance to be more of a backpacker's garment, with it's weight and functionality it is an excellent choice for backcountry skiing.

Get ready for backcountry skiing! Shop for PreCip Jacket.

Silverton: As many of you gathered, I have mixed feelings about the government's private land seizure happening in Silverton, Colorado. I mean, if being the jerk de jour is enough to get your land taken, should we be concerned? Latest here.

September 3 -- 2005
Schofield Pass, Colorado - Snow Obstacle Still There

Sorry about the lack of scale in this photo of the Schofield Pass snow block from yesterday (Saturday Sept. 3). Rock pile ramp at lower left edge is about half the length of a Jeep. People are driving up and down with quads, and down in regular 4x4s. It's tough and possibly dangerous to get up at this point (we failed this time), as the start is undercut and side-hilled enough to make a roll possible. The snow section is now only a few hundred feet long, but actually tougher to drive than it was a month ago. Click image to enlarge. After playing around trying to get Rumble Bee up on the snow, we quit while we were ahead and went fishing. Brought the brookies home and had a NICE trout dinner.

September 2 -- 2005
Backcountry Clothing Ideas and Experiences

Our recent excursion to the Wyoming Wind River mountains was different than many of our August trips of the past, in that we had a day of horrific weather during our hike-in on the Bears Ears Trail to Valentine Lake. Fifteen miles of trekking in freezing rain tested the limits of our hard shells and synthetic insulation layers.

During a rare "dry" spell on the Bears Ears Trail. Buffalo Head at center, South Fork Lakes to right. Our route eventually passed by the lakes and went over Washakie Pass.

Overall the performance of our clothing was amazing. The Marmot PreCip jacket Louie used kept him totally dry and thus safe. It had no wet-through or leaks, even under the pack straps. I was using a super lightweight Mountain Hardware shell, and it performed flawlessly as well. How harsh were the conditions? Let's put it this way, after a few hours of such wind and rain, we were even being careful of how our pockets zipped as the water was finding any way in it could.

If we'd been lazy and brought dirty and worn-out hard shells, things might have turned out different. To that end, remember that wash-in and spray-on treatments such as Revivex will give you peace of mind (and could save your life) when your cherished waterproof-breathable garments are getting a bit tarnished.

Our legs were well protected as well. I wore the Cloudveil Drizzle hardshell pant, which again kept me TOTALLY dry, and Louie used a pair of generic non-breathable nylon/urethane rain pants that sweat up a bit sometimes, but work fine in windy cold conditions. I was also amazed at how dry my feet stayed in my Scarpa Charmoz boots (again, Gortex, trackback). More about the boots in another blog...

When a cold rain is blasting your face at 30 mph, but you're hiking hard, it is tough to stay dry and warm without sweating too much.For insulation we both used synthetics such as my Cloudveil soft shell and Louie's synthetic filled puff jacket from North Face. We found ourselves stopping and fine tuning our layering way too many times, but fiddling with clothing 'till you get it right makes the day safer in such conditions, when hypothermia is a very real possibility.

Our big mistake was leaving our wool knit gloves with the horse packer who was doing our first-night drop camp. Talk about cold hands! But we had our knit hats, plenty of food, and almost nothing in our packs, so we kept on truckin'. And with Danno the Diamond 4 wrangler behind us we could have always hiked back down the trail and grabbed some more gear from him (though he was at best about an hour's hike away).

Even after years of winter mountaineering, a long hike in cold wind and rain, mostly above timberline, was quite the exciting and challenging experience. It gave me new faith in the lightweight synthetic hard shell jackets and pants that we're counting on to actually keep us alive if things get really harsh. Hats off to Cloudveil, Marmot, and North Face. Good stuff! Indeed, as one who suffered through the early failures of waterproof/breathable fabrics, I say AMAZING.

We'll be gone for the Labor Day holiday doing some "gear testing" (4 wheeling and fishing in our local high country, he he), will resume blogging Monday.

Our prayers go out to the folks in Louisiana who are in such a bad way.

September 1 -- 2005
Winter in the Air, and Polartec® Anti-Stink Testing

Stepped out the door this morning and crisp autumn air hit me in the face, winter just around the corner. Exciting! Our web stats show that quite a few people are checking our backcountry ski binding FAQs and mounting instructions, so I'll continue to organize that content so it's easier to access. The plan is you'll be able to find things on WildSnow.com by three methods: the left side menu bar may have an obvious link, check there first, or try the search box to the right, or check the Articles and Tips menus (again, by using the main menu bar to left).

Polartec Power Dry T-shirt.

Department of BO: One reason I can smell winter instead of something else is that web been using odor control fabrics since Mountain Hardware first came out with their excellent anti-stink products. Most recent test was a T-shirt made from a Polartec odor control fabric that's in the test phase -- it's the fabric used in the blue T you might have noticed Louie wearing in many of our blog photos. Here is the beta from Backbone Media, who gave us the shirt for testing:

"This is a new odor resistant Polartec® Power Dry fabric using silver ion technology to neutralize odor causing bacteria. Silver has been a well known natural anti-microbial for centuries which is why many medical instruments today are still made with silver. The silver is integrated in the fibers before the fabric is knit - so it is a permanent part of the shirt - it’s not a treatment so it will never wash out (unlike many chemical based anti-microbial applications which break down quickly). Polartec® offers silkweight, featherweight and midweight styles of this fabric. In addition to the silver fibers, all Polartec® Power Dry fabrics wick and dry very quickly thanks to a bi-component or denier gradient design - this means there are fewer larger fibers on the inner surface of the fabric and many more smaller fibers on the outer surface. As a result water is pushed to the greater surface area on the outside - the fabric mechanically pulls moisture away from your body (in fact, if you wore the shirt inside out, it wouldn't work)."

Test results: The teenage BO test gets an A+, and the shirt also wicks very comfortably and works for a wide temperature range. Downside was the fabric tended to snag a bit on things, but the snags didn't run and were easily cleaned off with an electric razor sideburn trimmer. We'll be looking for products made Power Dry, and highly recommend it!

Previous backcountry skiing blog weblog (Montezuma backcountry skiing, sleeping bag mods, etc.)

Welcome to Louis (Lou) Dawson's backcountry skiing information and opinion website. Lou's passion for the past 35 years has been alpinism and back country skiing -- and all manner of outdoor recreation. He has authored numerous books and articles about backcountry skiing and snowboarding, and is well known as the first person to ski down all 54 of Colorado's 14,000-foot peaks, otherwise known as the famous Fourteeners! Books and free back country information here, as well as tons of Randonnee rando telemark backcountry skiing info.

All material on this website is copyrighted. Permission is required for reproduction, electronic or otherwise. That includes publication and display on other websites by whatever means. For more about this, PLEASE SEE OUR COPYRIGHT INFORMATION. Backcountry skiing is a dangerous sport. You may be killed or severely injured if you choose to do all forms of randonnée and randonnée skiing. The information on this website is intended only as general information for a variety of aspects of backcountry skiing and outdoor recreation. While the authors and editors of the information on this website make every effort to present useful information, due to human error the information contained within this website may be inaccurate, false, or out-of-date. By using the information provided on this website, you agree to absolve the owners of WildSnow.com of any liability for injuries or losses incured while using such information.

Always go backcountry skiing with a partner, and learn about avalanche safety before you ski outside of ski and snowboard resorts. The best season for this sport is late winter and spring, when the snowpack compacts and avalanche danger is more predictable. The Colorado wilderness backcountry skiing season reaches its prime in May and June. Maritime snow such as that of the Pacific Northwest may be less avalanche prone than continental snow of that such as Colorado and Wyoming. The California Sierra also provides a relatively reliable snowpack for backcountry skiing, snowboarders, snowmobilers, telemarkers and the like. Backcountry skiing is a wonderful sport, but it can transition in moments from wonder to tragedy. You agree to use any of this website's information, maps, photos, or binding mounting instuctions or templatates at your own risk, and waive Wildsnow.com its owners and contributors of any liability for use of said items.

Keywords: Ski Information, Info, Outdoors, Wilderness Skiing, Randonnée and randonnée, Ski Mountaineering, also Ski Alpinismo and Backcountry Skiing.